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What If You Were The First To Meet An Alien Species?

What if you were not ready at all? TERMINATION SHOCK is about being tossed head-first into first contact scenarios, encounters with baffling technology, and the desperate creativity of cosmic refugees.

In the future, a swath of blue-collar humanity is rescued from their toil on Mars by altruistic but disorganized aliens. Pulled away from the disinterest of post-singularity masterminds on Earth and murderous artificial intelligences lurking past the orbit of Saturn, these miners, mechanics and freighter pilots become humanity's de-facto ambassadors to a broad, strange, diverse universe.

TERMINATION SHOCK is the SF game I always wanted to play - one where you face the setting's surprises as actual surprises, not as plot twists in a book or season finales in a TV arc. You can walk into your first session ignorant, and that's an advantage. You, the player, face the setting's bizarre intricacies without preparation, just like your character.

It's a game with a totally new setting and brand new mechanics. The aliens are alien, not just humans with forehead makeup, and the tech that was at least inspired by real science.

I've been playing it for more than a year, as immortalized on a series of Soundcloud podcasts. You can hear them by clicking right here. The people who helped fund those podcasts got a sneak preview of the rules, and we've been editing them ever since.

They're finally ready.

The Rules

For almost every action that's in doubt, you roll three dice and add the two highest together. This gets compared to a target number - high if you're trying something hard, moderate for ordinary difficulties, or else the two high dice of someone else's roll. Generally, the intensity of effect is based on the low die. It's that simple, at the core. At the same time there's more to it than that.

If you're familiar with my rules designs from Unknown Armies, Delta Green or REIGN, you know that I like to use every roll as efficiently as possible, pulling as much information as I can from every pitch of the dice. In addition to resolving just about every conflict (social, intellectual or physical) with the same roll and mechanics, the dice have been given flavor. So you don't just find out that you failed, and by how much, but also why. Did you miss something due to exhaustion? Was it distraction? Or were you so fired up you got careless and clumsy?

Similarly, when you succeed, it implies how you did it. Did you win the alien over by your effortless understanding, your force of personality, or mulishly stubborn persistence? With TERMINATION SHOCK, you know, and it's not merely cosmetic. Special abilities key in based on your lowest die. If you succeed without intense effort, you look casually, elegantly competent. If you succeed without harmony, you just monstered out your problem. (If you fail without harmony, you just monstered yourself into a problem.)

Products

For the initial rollout, we're planning on going with a print-on-demand volume, color cover and your choice of color or black and white interior. The manuscript is about 42,000 words, which should wind up somewhere between 150 and 200 pages, depending on artwork and layout options. We've opted for a 6x9 inch format.

The PDF version is the same as the print version, only it's full color throughout. (Don't worry - our art director is taking every precaution to make sure the art looks good both colored and monochrome.)

The core book has an overview of the setting, core mechanics on how to attempt actions and the consequences for failure, along with fat bundles of exploits (which help you succeed better) and failsafes (which mitigate your defeats). There is a big beautiful section of high tech devices, both human and alien, and extensive GM assistance for building sessions that react to the players' will while still valuing the GM's preparation.

Once the main book's out, there's plenty in the pipeline. Extensive writeups on aliens, their cultures and biologies and special rules if you want to play a hardwired high-gravity predator or lighter-than-air philosophical gasbag? They're already written. More high-tech gadgets to throw at players who've already read the core book? Got them good to go. A set of separate rules for ship-on-ship violence, with assistance for making your crew's craft a home and a setting for drama, not just a collection of system boxes? Text is done, playtests completed. Or if you like pregenerated adventures, we can write 'action plans' - TERMINATION SHOCK's answer to a dungeon module, only shorter, more open, and based around a single session.

Oh, and if you want to hear more podcasts? We have thirty more sessions that just need to be edited and posted.

The Setting

The podcast does a nice job gradually revealing the setting, but in broad strokes, the Sol system of the future is unjust and unfriendly, with rogue killer AIs infesting the deep edges of its orbit while transhumans at the core monopolize the best tech and the prime real estate. Squished uncomfortably between are colonists on Mars, asteroid belt miners, and the merchants who supply them.

That pinched margin is just about to get crushed when aliens swoop in on a rescue mission, trying to gather up as much unmodified humanity as they can before the expiration date. Rushed away into deep space and plagued by poor translation software, humankind is dumped in a cosmopolitan galaxy that doesn't hate them, but doesn't really care much either. We have to start over from zero in the midst of cultures we never expected, and that never expected us.

The breadth and confusion of the setting provides a lot of different options for play. Want to play something ultraviolent? Tool up with alien tech and go get revenge on the killbots of Sol, and maybe show those snobby exhumans a thing or two. Want to explore strange new worlds? There's a bunch, and they're always curious about new species with new cultures, either as entertainment, possible saviors, or exploitable resources. Want to make politics in a chaotic diaspora with limited resources and a severely disrupted economy? Stick around the station and try to corner the market on human goods like soap, coffee or news media.

It's a tough setting. It can roll with whatever you throw at it.

Risks and challenges

The main challenges to completing this in a timely fashion are production and distribution.
The writing part of production is at least 95% complete, so getting a manuscript ready to edit and lay out is the work of a week at most.
Illustrating and laying out the manuscript falls to Violet, and that's a lot of labor for one person, but I've worked with her before and I'm confident she can get it done well and in a timely fashion. However, if some disaster befalls and Violet's unable to complete it, I know artists and design experts who could be tapped to come in if needed.
As for production and delivery, we're going with a print-on-demand book from DriveThruRPG, who have a well-established system up and running. I've used them several times without any meaningful hassles. It costs more per unit and prices us out of doing a color interior, but it also relieves us of the burdens of printing, bulk shipping, receipt, warehousing, and fulfillment.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $15 or more
About $15

Hard Copy + PDF - At Cost Global Option

You get the full color PDF and, additionally, you get a coupon to purchase the POD book at cost. (That way the shipping costs are determined by where you are, instead of being based on where I am.) While this may look cheaper than buying the book, in the US I believe it's basically a wash. Elsewhere, it's the only way to manage shipping uncertainties.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $20 or more
About $20

PDF, Hard Copy at Cost, Patch!

You get the full color PDF and, additionally, you get a coupon to purchase the POD book at cost. (That way the shipping costs are determined by where you are, instead of being based on where I am.) While this may look cheaper than buying the book, in the US I believe it's basically a wash. Elsewhere, it's the only way to manage shipping uncertainties.
You also get one of the limited edition "Spruce Goose" patches from season one of the podcast. It's small enough we can mail it globally. Note that the added shipping costs are for the patch ONLY!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $20 or more
About $20

POD Color Copy At Cost

OK, if you really want a tangible, print book with full color interiors, this is the way you get one. You pay us twenty bucks, and then you get a code to purchase the print-on-demand color book at cost. Current estimate is, that would be about $17 US, plus shipping and handling to wherever you are. It's not cheap, you pay twice... but it's the full color option.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

Hard Copy, Patch + PDF - American Option

This early version of the game is a 6x9 inch softback with a black and white interior, mailed straight to your house. You also get the same text in PDF form, which is full color. Finally, under separate cover, we send you a Spruce Goose patch, commemorating the beloved ship from the first season of the podcast.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge US$ 25 or more
About US$ 25

Hard Copy + PDF + AN ANSWER (Global)

You get the full color PDF and, additionally, you get a coupon to purchase the POD book at cost. (That way the shipping costs are determined by where you are, instead of being based on where I am.) While this may look cheaper than buying the book, in the US I believe it's basically a wash. Elsewhere, it's the only way to manage shipping uncertainties. In addition, with this tier, you get to ask the game's designer for advice via email and get an answer within three days (probably sooner!) You can ask about TERMINATION SHOCK, about gaming, or about anything you think a hermit-like American man in his late forties would have insight about.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $30 or more
About $30

Five Copies at Cost

If you're a retailer, or buying for your group, or getting ready for Christmas '19, you can get FIVE codes to buy the book at cost. You still have to pay printing and shipping costs, but there's still a real savings here for bulk buying. This does not, however, include the PDF.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $30 or more
About $30

Hard Copy + PDF + AN ANSWER (USA)

This early version of the game is a 6x9 inch softback with a black and white interior, mailed straight to your house. You also get the same text in PDF form, which is full color. In addition, the game's designer will give you advice on a topic of your choice -- TERMINATION SHOCK, gaming in general, or anything else you want to ask. Advice will be given via email or Skype, with an turnaround in three days or less.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

TEN Copies at Cost

If you really need a pile o' TERMINATION SHOCK copies, get ten at-cost codes. You still have to pay printing and shipping costs, but this is certainly the best per-unit deal. This does not, however, include the PDF.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $110 or more
About $110

THE ALIEN OPTION

You get the color PDF and a code to get the print book at cost. (You still have to pay for printing and shipping - that's how we can offer this tier globally.) MORE EXCITINGLY, you get an original pen & ink sketch of a TERMINATION SHOCK alien. You could wind up with one of those frog-cats, a scav, or a meatball crab! Mailed to your house on our dime. Also, we'll send you one of those Spruce Goose patches, 'cause why not?

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $150 or more
About $150

Play a Game With Greg on Skype

Is your calendar clear on May 18, 2019, at 3:00 PM Central Standard Time? Can you get a solid Skype connection? If so, you can play in a game run online by the game's creator! Greg will generate characters and an adventure and send you through it. In addition, you also get the color PDF and a code to buy either the color or B&W version of the book at cost.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $320 or more
About $320

THE FUTURE YOU

You get the color PDF and a code to get the print book at cost. (You still have to pay for printing and shipping - that's how we can offer this tier globally.) You also get drawn in to one of the illustrations in the book itself! You may be pictured giving a speech or having an alien spit on you, or something else entirely. Exciting!
Naturally, at this level of investment we'll send you one of those Spruce Goose patches on our dime, even if we don't draw an alien spitting on you.